Why PBEM ?................

SmartFart · September 9, 2000, 20:45

.........and not TCP/IP game?

In Civ2 MP section,nobody plays PBEM except very few players (5 of them playing one game a whole YEAR and they're about 800BC !!!).
With 5 players TCP/IP,it took about 4 hours to reach approximatelly same year.

It looks like here is exactly opposite situation. Everybody playing PBEM. Why?

I've started one 3-way SMAX game. We've managed to reach 2120 and one player misteriously vanished (hope he just lost his interest for that game and everything is fine w/ him). I guess we spend a month for merely 20 turns.

Robby Boy · September 9, 2000, 21:25

The answer is simple - "Live" games can be very time consuming whereas PBEM only takes up a very small amount of time for those of us who are busy.

John-SJ · September 11, 2000, 09:34

quote:

Originally posted by Robby Boy on 09-09-2000 09:25 PM
The answer is simple - "Live" games can be very time consuming whereas PBEM only takes up a very small amount of time for those of us who are busy.

Exactly! The last time I was able to devote 4 hours to a computer game at one sitting was over 2 years ago. I can spend some time at gaming every day, but it's often hard to predict beforehand when that time will be, and longer than 1 hour stretches of uninterrupted time are a rarity with me.

John-SJ

Misotu · September 11, 2000, 10:32

Another reason why I personally prefer PBEM is because I like to have the chance to think about what I'm doing. I personally loathe IP games and other people find me frustrating to play against in real-time.

John-SJ · September 11, 2000, 11:00

Misotu,

Same here, I dislike IP games for the same reasons I dislike RTS games, and I like, no, need the freedom to take 5 minues or 2 hours to respond to a turn.

John-SJ

Garth Vader · September 11, 2000, 11:03

Another reason for me is that I can play PBEM with a friend of mine that has the Mac version. We can't play an IP game between the different versions.

Darius · September 11, 2000, 11:46

Another reason is that you can easily play with people in different time zones. I'm currently in a game with players spanning nine time zones.

SmartFart · September 11, 2000, 21:36

Interesting.

Two very similar games and two diametrically opposed style of multiplaying

Approximatelly 20 turns per month just isn't my type of turn based game. Fortunately,i can afford 2x4 hours per week to play in spite of my wife,kid,friends and work.

I was just curious. Thanx for explanations.

Have fun.

MariOne · October 7, 2000, 05:11

I'd give my (left) arm if my SMAC pbems could now keep the 20 turns per month pace! Even 15 would be an achievement.

Misotu · October 7, 2000, 17:26

Are you playing tourny games, or ad hoc?